8.4.05

This is a sliding bock puzzle based on a wooden Chinese puzzle set I saw at friend's house. The object is simple: get the large red square block to the bottom row by sliding the blocks into the vacant spaces. It's harder than it looks!

To play: Click on a block to make it active. The active block may be moved into an available gap using the arrow keys.

You are free to copy and redistribute them in any format under the following conditions. You attribute me as the original author. You do not use them for commercial purposes. You do not modify them or use them as the basis for another work.

4.4.05

I picked up a new car this weekend. It's a T reg Saab 9-3 SE Turbo, with 104K on the clock. How I have come by it is quite a testimony to God's protection and his provision.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving my Ford Escort to work along the country lanes I have driven for the last 5+ years. As I came round a bend, for some reason I'm still not sure of, I lost control of the vehicle and it started to skid. I briefly managed to straighten up, but then lost control completely. The car span out 180 degrees, slid into the ditch and flipped up onto its side. I had to climb up the seats, and push the door open vertically, pull myself up onto the side of the car and jump down.

Miraculously I was not hurt at all, not even a single scratch or bruise! I am convinced this was the preservation and protection of God. I was praying in tongues at the time the accident occurred, and I felt strangely calm during the whole process. I just knew that God was with me and that I was going to be OK. A number of drivers had seen what happened and stopped to give assistance, they too were visibly incredulous that I was standing there totally unaffected. One of them even said to me - "You need to thank God that you are still here!"

Afterwards it really made me think. The words of Psalm 8 came to my mind. What is man that you are mindful of him? Don't get me wrong, as a Christian, I know that God loves me and cares for me, and that even the hairs on my head are numbered. But I couldn't help but feel humbled and in awe that the great God of heaven would care so much for me that he would miraculously preserve my life in this way.

The very next day a member of our church was tragically killed in a road accident. As I made my way to work that week, on the train and the bus, I had plenty of time to think and reflect. Why did God preserve me, yet take him? Why is it that sometimes God miraculously shields us from the troubles of this world, yet at other times he allows us to go through them? Why does God allow some of his servants to enjoy a long life full of vigour, yet calls others home early? I don't have answers to these questions other than this - God is sovereign, and he is always good. Sometimes that is all we need to know. I am very grateful to be alive, and while I still have breath, until the day comes when it is my turn to be called home - I will praise my God and live my life to please him, so that on that day I can hear those words - "Well done good and faithful servant."

The next week my car was declared "beyond economic repair." Although I felt very grateful just for life, and certainly felt I had no grounds for complaint, as I commuted in I felt a rise of faith. I knew that just as God had preserved me, he would also provide for me. I didn't have to wait long. That week my father-in-law was taking his car in for a service, and it just happened to be the last week on the job for the dealer he had known there for the last 25 years. He gave him an outstanding deal on the car I now drive. If he had gone in 2 days earlier, the car would not have been there, two days later and he would have already left. With the money I got from the insurance company, I only had to find another £1,000. And I now drive a much better car than the one I lost.